So, hubby and I start searching around for a good deal on a freezer and end up getting a bigger one than we thought for cheaper than the smaller one! Score! OK, so let’s plug that bad boy in and get cooking!
My sister came and we spent 2 days cooking. It sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? But, if you want the food to last as long as possible after the baby comes, you need to cook it as close to the arrival of said baby as possible. That means that yes, I was on my feet for two full days in a hot kitchen mid-August. Without the ability to drink. Yea, it may have sounded like a good idea… But those were the longest two days of my pregnancy… and that’s including the first two days past my due date (but certainly not including my 30 hrs of labor).
We made a lot of great things, but I certainly learned a lot. Here are just SOME of the things I learned… the hard way (is there any other way, really?):
1. – Space it out! We did two full days like that because my sister is not local. Had I been doing this on my own, I would have done it very differently.
2. – SING IT LOUD. Once people know you are stocking up, they will bring you stuff. It’s very helpful. Now is NOT the time to turn away this kind of help. You like your mother-in-law’s casserole? Chances are, she’ll bring one or two for the freezer if she knows what you are doing!
3. – Now is not the time to try new recipes. Most times, when you are freezing, you make stuff in bulk. So, imagine hating the chicken… and you’re either going to hate it the next 3-5 times you have it or you’re going to leave it in there to get freezer burned and throw it out when it’s time to thaw out the freezer. For us it was the pasta sauce. It was a new recipe and turned out way more like marinara sauce. We used it for meatball subs, but there’s still a bunch out there… and we are less than enthused to defrost it!
4. – Now is also not the time to pick recipes that are a pain to make! I made awesome parmesan-zucchini stuffed chicken breasts. But yea, trim the chicken, fillet the chicken, make the filling, stuff it, bread it, flash freeze it, etc. The other killer was the very delicious bacon leek swiss quiche. Have you ever worked with leeks? If not, ALWAYS buy the pre-slices and pre-cleaned. TRUST ME.
5. – Really plan ahead for what you are planning to use the meals. I made some things to use together, but did not remember to pull both parts out at the same time… so now I have a bunch of cornbread muffins, but I already ate all the soup! Good thing it’s prime time for chili…
6. – When in doubt, add shredded zucchini. Seriously! I added shredded zucchini to my meatloaf, baked ziti, meatballs and I also made a batch of carrot-zucchini muffins which were not on the original list of things to make. Now, this was because I had an abundance of zucchini thanks to a friend’s garden, but it works very well for keeping things moist. The meatloaf was really good. I was disappointed when we ran out because I don’t really use a recipe and I’m not sure I’ll get it that good again.
Here’s the list of stuff we made!
8 apricot pork chop in crock pot (2 packs of 4) 2 london broil marinades 12 chicken marinades (3 packs of 2 breasts in each: zesty, bbq, teriyaki and honey mustard) 4 packs of 2 mini-meatloaves 3 packs of meatballs 3 packs of 2 parmesan zucchini-stuffed chicken breasts 6 trays of ziti 2lbs taco meat 19 black bean and corn quesadillas 10 twice baked potatoes (20 half potato servings) with scallions, bacon and cheddar 2 dozen cornbread muffins – to go with the soup… whoops! 2 dozen lemon poppy muffins 3 dozen carrot zucchini muffins 3 dozen pear walnut muffins 4 dozen cinnamon apple muffins 1 bacon-leek and swiss quiche (8 servings, wrapped individually) 1 pear crisp 6.5 dozen choc chip cookies (frozen in dough balls) 4 tubs cheesy chili soup (2 servings each, add cheese to serve) 9c instant oatmeal w/ nuts and dried berries *Not in the freezer, in the pantry. Add milk and microwave! 6 berry smoothie packs 8 containers of pasta sauce (each has enough for 1/2 box pasta)
Mamas On The Move 